I think I needed that! I didn't feel well on Friday evening and I actually fainted in the elevator on the way up to our floor. I fell backwards and hit my head in the wall. That resulted in a headache the whole Saturday. :-( It was a little scary to wake up laying on the floor in the elevator and not knowing where I was, but I guess it must have been a small chock for the woman who found me laying there. Well, I feel good again now! 

We participated in Earth Hour yesterday by switching off all lights in the apartment and then we went out to the plaza in front of the hotel. It was some happenings and music out there in the darkness during Earth Hour. 

When I went grocery shopping this week I noticed that they had started to sell Easter candy. Since I'm not going to be here during Easter I bought some chocolate eggs already now. :-) Another good thing is that the magazine ELLE has published the first issue of ELLE Malaysia this month, which I read during the weekend. 

I had never been a person that liked to read, not until quite recently! Some years ago me and my friend Marte decided to have a New Year's resolution, which was to read at least twelve books during the coming year. 

After that I have just continued, but now I'm actually reading more than twelve books every year. :-) I managed somehow to develop a new interest and I feel like reading is good exercise for the brain. I like to read books from which I can learn new things, like travel and expedition documentaries, self development books and books abouts historical events and famous persons.

They have a couple of good book stores here in Kuching. When I spend the weekend in Kuching I often go to one of the book stores to have a look and quite often I find something interesting to buy. Now I have noticed that I'm very good in buying books, but I'm too slow when it comes to read them. I found a whole pile of books that I have not read, so now I'm not allowed to go to the book store for a while. First I have to read all the books I have at home!

 

The weekend started with a power walk in Reservoir park. If you want to go out for a power walk in the morning here you can't stay in bed too long, because then it becomes too hot outside. :-) After the walk we went grocery shopping and on the way home I stopped at Starbucks and picked up a free coffee and a doughnut because March is my birthday month and then all Starbucks card holders get a birthday gift.

 

Now it's time to show you what I bought at Johor Premium Outlet last weekend. I'm far from a fashionista, but I have a general interest in fashion. I tend to focus on particular brands and at the moment I'm so into Guess and Michael Kors. :-) Luckily both of them have outlet stores in Johor.

 

I didn't buy a lot of things this time, but I bought a birthday gift for myself, a very nice handbag from Michael Kors. I have planned to buy a new handbag for some time, but I have not found one that I felt was my style, until now. I was not prepared to spend too much money on a handbag either, I just wanted to have a nice classic handbag that I can use when I go to work every day. Now I was lucky to find one on sale at the outlet!

 

In addition to the handbag I bought underwear from Victoria's Secret and a pair of shorts from Nike.

 

 

I'm continuing on the Lego theme, hehe... I just wanted to show you some photos from last year when I was in Singapore and visited the Artscience Museum next to Marina Bay Sands. There they were showing The Art of the Brick exhibition by Nathan Sawaya. Nathan is a very creative guy and he has built a lot of cool sculptures of Lego bricks. At the moment you can see some of his creations in New York and Brussels.

 

It's really amazing what you can do with those bricks! Your imagination is the limit! :-) Lego must be the perfect toy for engineers!

 

I know that this hotel is designed for kids, but I have to admit that I really liked it. So colourful. :-) We stayed in a pirate themed room with a nice view over the amusement park. We enjoyed it a lot! It's never too late to fulfill your childhood dreams. :-)

 

 

Legoland Malaysia opened in 2012 and it is the first Legoland theme park in Asia. Since my last visit they have also opened a Legoland Water Park and a Legoland Hotel next to the park. We decided to stay at the hotel one night to try it out.

 

Yesterday we became like kids again and spent the day in the amusement park. Unfortunately the weather was not the best, it was raining a bit, but we tried to make the best out of the situation. Luckily the rain stopped for a while and we tried the roller coasters during that period. We did one mistake however, hehe... We had lunch just before riding one of the roller coasters. I do not recommend that! :-) I felt that the food was bumping around in my stomach and I had to relax for a while afterwards before I was ready for the next roller coaster.

 

In the park I really like the section with Lego versions of famous Asian landmarks. There you can see for example Petronas Twin Towers, the Chinese Wall, Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat, all made of Lego.

 

Friday again! The time flies! I felt like going for After Work today, but Didin was busy with football training so I ended up going to the gym and then to Victoria Arms, the pub in the building where I live. There I had a burger, they are actually famous for their tasty burgers, and a green beer! The 17th of March is St. Patrick's Day and at Victoria Arms they have decorated the place with clovers and they are also serving green coloured beer this weekend.

 

 

We are also going to Legoland Malaysia. Didin has not been there yet, so we decided to go there when we are in the neighbourhood. The plan is to stay one night at Legoland Hotel before we visit the park on Sunday. Since we are like two grown up kids, I think we will have lots of fun at Legoland. :-)

 

After over a year in Malaysia I have finally done it! I have tried the durian fruit! The smelly fruit is also known as The King of Fruits. It's very popular in the countries in South East Asia and considered to be a delicacy. The smell on the other hand is terrible, hehe... Because of the smell I didn't have any plans of tasting durian, but this time I got it served and felt that it would have been unpolite not to accept one piece. The taste was not as bad as the smell. The texture was a bit strange, very soft and creamy, and the taste was sweet. Afterwards I had a strange warm feeling inside my stomach. Well, I have tried it, but I don't think it was a delicacy, I guess you have to get used to it to appreciate it.

 

We have spent the weekend at Village House, which is a luxury version of a homestay located on the Santubong peninsula close to the sea. It's just a 30 minutes drive from Kuching. Last year we were there with the company on a team building. We really liked the place and the food they served so we decided to go back. Our stay at Village House was exactly what we needed after a busy week at work.

Yesterday I picked up the cakes I had ordered from Taka Cake House. The cakes were so beautiful. I'm so happy with them! I brought them to work today and shared them with my colleagues. :-)

 

I like that restaurant and I can really recommend to go there for dinner, but the tea set that we had today was not very impressive. I prefer to have it served on classic three tier plates and I want my scones to be warm and served with strawberry jam instead of orange marmalade. At Raintree they only had one kind of tea, which was the normal boring Lipton tea. So, I don't think this is the right place to go to if you want to enjoy English style afternoon tea. 

The smoked salmon sandwiches were good at least as well as the chocolate mousse cake. 

Previously, when I heard Borneo the first thing I thought about was orangutans. The famous ginger coloured 'man from the forest'. After I moved to Borneo I have had the opportunity to see orangutans a number of times. They are so fascinating and it's a new experience every time you meet them. You never know what they will do next.

 

The most famous place to see orangutans is at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Sabah. They take care of orphan orangutans that are found alone in the rainforest or in plantations some times. The young orangutans are kept at the centre for a couple of years and trained for a future release back into the rainforest, because of that you can not visit them, the centre doesn't want to encourage them to human contact.

 

However, there are a number of other orangutans that live in the forests surrounding the centre which you might see if you are lucky. At the centre they have feeding platforms where they put out fruits at certain times during the day. The orangutans often come there to get a free meal.

At Sepilok they also have a program where you can adopt a baby orangutan and support the centre in their work to protect orangutans. We did that when we were there. So for one year we have a baby orangutan called Gelison. During the year the centre sends us photos of him and reports about his progress at the training centre.

If you want to read more about the orangutans at Sepilok and how you can help them you can use this link: Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre